French Kiss
by Always Misunderstood
Summary: Alena's fiance Matthew takes a business trip to Paris, France and gets a little preoccupied along the way. Now she has to do the one things she's afraid of most to win Matthew's heart back: Fly! At least the man next to her makes the flight a little more enjoyable... for a Frenchman that is. Fem!America/Canada, Fem!America/France, Canada/Fem!France


Planes. Alena had a real problem with planes. They were… horrible. They could be nice, she supposed; from a distance! Like if they were flying a million or something feet in the air over her head. Yep. Then they were just dandy. But the moment she had to step foot into them. Nope. That was a different story. The moment she sat down in those cushioned seats in coach, every plane crash in recorded history sprang into her mind. Oh. Hell. No. She knew how she was going to die; in burning twisted metal. Planes were the enemy, a flying metal death trap! She was never going to ride in one of those things willingly. Huh uh. Never!

"Welcome to Air Canada, nonstop service: Toronto to Paris." Oh god. Why was she here? Alena closed her eyes and tried to keep her breathing normal as the flight attendants voice spoke over the speakers.

"Our flight time today is estimated at seven hours, and twenty minutes." Alena's eyes closed tighter. Seven hours? She was going to be in a plane, flying over the ocean for seven hours? She pushed herself farther back into her seat. Calm down, calm down, calm down! She could do this. She just needed to take a deep breath; so she did.

"Please check that your seat belt is fas-" Her eyes flew opened and her hands raced to the belt around her waist. She had fastened it long ago, but just to double check she pulled it on as tightly as she could. "-ur chair back is in the upright position." Blinking she hoisted both her hands over her head to cling onto the head rest behind her. She tugged and came to the conclusion that the chair she was currently sitting on was, in fact, in the up right position. Good. Okay.

"We will be taking off shortly." What? Oh God. Right… Planes do that. They take off. So that they can fly and crash! Er, get to the destination. In pieces! Oh… no. She was going to die. This was it. This was the end of her life. Goodbye world. Goodbye life. It was nice living. She dug her hands into the arm rests provided, her nails leaving marks in the cushion under them. She could hear the engines warming up. The plane was starting to back up. This was it, this was it, this was it! Death!

"Alena." Huh? What was that? Her eyes shot up to the ceiling. God? Is this was God sounds like? Well his voice was more feminine than she originally thought. "Alena." There it was again! It was kinda funny because God actually sounded a lot like the flight attendant over the speakers… Wait. This was the flight attendant. Oh. Well then. Better answer.

"Yes?" Her voice almost cracked as she answered. She swallowed then cleared her throat.

"Are you ready to have a safe and pleasant flight?"

There was a pause; the plane was finally turning itself so that it could now go forward down the runway. Fantastic. This was the part Alena had been dreading: takeoff.

"Yes…" Again her voice was tremulous. Her knuckles where turning white now she was gripping so hard onto the seat.

"Alright, Alena." The voice was calm and cool, though Alena could tell that it was trying to be heard over the engines. Which, by the way, were getting louder. "Tell me what you are thinking about."

"Crushed metal." The plane was turning again. Oh, so this was now the runway they were on? Alena closed her eyes once more very tightly and the panic started to rise in her voice. "People screaming… crashing into the water and yet somehow being burned alive-!"

"Alena." The flight attendants voice was stern. As the plane started to pick up a little bit of speed, the voice continued. "What happened to your happy place? The stone house? Picture it now."

"Oh-Okay…" Alena again closed her eyes, trying to picture this house instead of painful death. So… So there was a house, made of stone actually. There was paint on the outside of it, but it was chipping with age, not that she minded. It sort of added character. There were two windows facing her, the door was on a wall she could not see. And all around the house was… green. Like a tree filled woods and, and a garden; a garden of vines. Just as she was starting to calm down, the plane jumped a bit. Her eyes opened immediately and one of her hands flew to the window. "Oh, my God!"

"Don't forget your take off mantra. What words are you supposed to be saying to yourself?" Alena started to shake her head, she looked like she was about to start crying.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna d-"

"Alena."

There was another bump, and the plane was definitely getting faster. Swallowing thickly, Alena started to nod. "Okay… Okay." Staring up at the ceiling she started her chant like it was her last prayer to god.

"I leh-love Paris in the springtime… I love Peh-Paris…" Her brows creased together and Alena was now glaring at the ceiling. "You… You know what? I think you gave me the wrong mantra, okay? I don't love Paris in the springtime… or any other time of the year. I don't even like the French." Alena started to undo her seat belt with shaky hands. The plane was going faster and faster. Oh God. "And I _really _don't want to be on this trip! Oh… Oh my God!"

Now unbuckled, the American jumped out of her seat and started to make her way down the isle. She plowed to the door of the plane and started to bang her fists fiercely upon it.

"Alena… You can do this-" The flight attendants words went unheard as Alena started to scream. Her fists rapped against the door in time with her new chant of 'I don't even like the French! Let me out, let me out! I don't want to die!'.

Kicking and clawing her way, Alena finally managed to get the door of the plane open and proceeded to fall out of it. Few seconds later she hit the cold concrete floor, only panting loudly to herself. Behind her the plane simulator had a very loud and high pitched alarm going off. She had done it. She avoided a flight simulation to Paris. She would live.

"And you know what? You can get all your money back for that crappy simulation too. Isn't that great?" The American stood on one side of a bed, pulling clothing out of a suitcase. Her partner, a Canadian man named Matthew was on the other side of said bed, putting clothing into a suitcase. "So… It's not like today was a complete waste after all! There is some good news!"

She turned around, carrying some folded up shirts in her hands. From behind she could hear Matthew sigh. However, she continued to put her own clothes away as he started to speak.

"Money isn't the issue here, Alena." His voice was soft, but she could hear the disappointment in it. To anyone who knew Matthew it was easy to tell what he felt when he spoke. To anyone who didn't know Matthew… he just whispered all the time. "I know that I would be working half the time, but… I just wanted you to come with me and exper-"

"You know, it wasn't even that great of a plane ride to begin with. Wasn't realistic at all…" Not like she would know what a real plane ride was like anyway, but still. So used to just talking over him, she does so now without a second thought about it.

"Alena," Moving away from his own packing, Matthew slipped up behind the American as she messily shoved shirts back into a dresser, and put his arms around her waist. "Come to Paris with me…" By this time she was leaning back into his hold, smiling softly to herself. Matthew continued. "I'll give you a Stoli, or whatever else I can find. We'll be there before you know it."

Alena started to shake her head and shrugged her way out of her Canadian fiancée's hold. Once out, she returned to her nearly empty suitcase and continued to pull clothes from it. Behind her Matthew sighed and turned around, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Gosh. I just don't understand. How can you not want to go to Pairs? I mean, you're a history teacher… Shouldn't you want to go?" His violet eyes stared into Alena's back as he waited for an answer. It was just so perplexing. How could she not want to go?

"Matt." Alena turned around to face him. "They're French. They hate us." She tilted her head slightly to the side and grinned knowing that was the perfect explanation. However, the look on Matthew's face told her that she obviously needed to explain more than that. "Look," she moved across the room again, this time to her sock drawer next to the dresser she visited previously, "They smoke. And they have this… relationship with cheese that I just don't get."

She pushed her socks deep in the confines of her sock drawer, and beside her she could hear Matthew sigh yet again. He moved first, going to his suitcase again to pack some folded shirts he hadn't gotten to yet. Alena, feeling that she had won, turned on her heel and grinned smugly to herself. She glanced to Matthew, who looked like he was thinking something over.

"A week in Paris with the man you love?" He looked hopeful.

"Who's going to water the fish?" Alena started, pushing his silly romance out of her way. She thought she was being rather clever. And when she looked over to Matthew's confused face, she continued. "Or feed the plants? Honestly Matthew, we can't just abandon our life for some work related pre-mini-honeymoon."

Matthew's look of bewilderment stayed plastered on his face for a moment and he slowly blinked himself out of it. They didn't even have fish… or plants. Great, now she was just coming up with random excuses. Matthew had to think of something quick if he was ever going to win this. His eyes scanned frantically through his own baggage before slowly traveling to Alena's. Still in her bag, he noticed a book of tourist destinations. On it was the picture of the Eiffel Tower. He raised his brows then, without lifting his head, glanced to Alena.

"The Eiffel Tower."

Alena's grin slowly started to fade into a light smile on her face. Her eyes were now looking past Matthew, actually looking past everything. She started to think about the tower in question and sighed. "The Eiffel Tower…" She parroted slowly starting to sway from one foot to the other. Matthew straightened up and blinked. That was working? Oh gosh. Was it actually working? "I'd love to see the Eiffel Tower."

A smile spread across Matthew's face and he started to pack up the few scattered things she had laying around her suitcase. "Okay then. Great." Gleefully he started to close the lid of the suitcase until Alena's hands met his own.

"Matthew," she started, "You know I'm not supposed to leave the country until after my immigration interview." She pulled at his hands, which in turn pulled the suitcase open once more. Technically her passport was still American, so she could still travel around. Knowing that, Matthew wanted to bring her along on this business trip as a sort of early honeymoon. But she was right. If she ran into any issues over that big blue ocean, because she was changing citizenship, she wouldn't have an embassy to help her out of a pinch.

A little hurt, Matthew moved his hands away from the lid of the suitcase and decided to dive into the open bag instead. He pulled out the book of tourist destinations and started to place it into his own suitcase. In retaliation, Alena pouted a bit and reached for the book herself, in an effort to take it back.

"I'm taking that." The Canadian started, tugging at the book.

However, the American would not let go. Finally she managed to pull the book free. She held the book close to her chest like a school girl did her binders during high school. "No, you're not."

Getting a little bit testy now, Matthew crossed his arms over his chest and, quite simply, frowned at his fiancée. He wanted her to come on this trip with him… it'd be so much better if she did!

"You know…" Matthew chewed on the inside of his cheek, holding back all his frustrations with his afraid-of-flying-bride-to-be. But she did have a point. "We could make something up." He lifted his gaze to Alena, noting the confusion on her face. The very idea stuck to the back of his throat like the beginnings of a cold, but it was a thought. "It's not like they really care what country your passport says you're from anyway. You just need to have _a _passport, right?" It's not like they were making a fake one right? It wasn't completely illegal to travel with a not-so-current passport, right? "I mean, if they did ask then we could… Um…" Picking up speed in his reasoning, he started to think of a little white lie to get them through. "Uh… Tell them your cousin Kiku fell into the Seine."

For a moment, Alena just stared at the male. Now it was her turn to be bewildered. Where the hell did he pull that name from? Was that… even a real name? "… They'll find out that I don't have a cousin 'Kiku' and deport me." That's it. No more Japanese anything for Matthew.

With a huff, Alena put the Eiffel Tower covered book onto her bedside table and again started to empty her suitcase. Matthew, who looked defeated yet again behind her sighed and bowed his head in defeat. His blond fiancée pulled various items from her bag and simply threw them onto the bed.

"This is just like that one time I smoked pot." Alena frowned at the bed, and continued to throw things from her bag. Matthew on the other hand, glanced up with new found curiosity. "I didn't wanna do it in the first place." Scooping up a mixture of shirts and pants she had just thrown messily onto the bed, she turned around quickly and made her way to the dresser. "It sucked balls."

Now she was passed Matthew, shoving everything from her arms into a single drawer. This method might have worked if there was nothing else in the drawer but of course, that was not the case. This wasn't working at all, actually, it was making her even angrier. She started making faces as she muttered to herself.

"But then Gretchen Beilschmidt's brother called the police and we got arrested." She huffed then proceeded to 'slam' the drawer closed, as best she could with it over flowing, then turned towards Matthew again. She held up her pointer finger, and was pouting behind it. "The one time I did anything illegal and I got arrested!"

Matthew blinked as she spoke and then rubbed the back of his neck. It was… actually really funny to think that the one time she did something like that, she got caught. She would. That would happen to her, of all people. However, he decided not to laugh out loud about it. It would only piss her off more and that was not what he wanted to do. Actually quite the opposite. He had to think of something else and quick. Of course, just as she threw her arm down in annoyance and started to walk towards the bathroom, the thought of something.

"Hey… Alena I almost forgot." He didn't take off after her, but he slowly started to smile. The woman he was speaking to, however, did not stop her dash into the bathroom and proceeded to slam the door shut. He rolled his eyes then continued. "The Oxenstierna's have their house on the market."

A couple seconds passed before Alena opened the bathroom door ever so slightly to peek through it.

Berwald Oxenstierna, a tall Swedish man, carried a recently taped closed box from a guest room into the almost completely boxed up living room. His life partner, Tino (a Finnish man), was currently sitting on the couch taping shut yet another box. They were getting ready for a move yet again; this would be the third and final time they would change location. Hopefully.

After their son, Peter, finished with high school and finally went off to collage the couple decided that it was time to move out of their family sized house and into something a little bit more comfortable. It wasn't going to be the smallest place they'd ever lived in together, but it was going to be one of the best.

Berwald set his load down on a slowly growing tower of boxes before moving towards Tino. With the smallest of smiles he sat down beside his partner and wrapped his arm around the other. There was a brief moment where Tino froze, but he soon leaned against the bigger man and relaxed. It had been a long day of packing and it was time the two had a break.

Meanwhile, outside of the Oxenstierna's home, Alena and Matthew sat in their not-as-cozy-car watching the scene unfold. Alena smiled warmly, turning her body towards the warm glow of the home, despite the seatbelt digging into her shoulder. She just couldn't get enough of this loving moment. Matthew on the other hand only glanced at the window for a short while, before giving an uncomfortable cough and shuffled straighter into his seat. It wasn't her dream house, but it was close enough.

"Why are we stalking a house we can't afford?" Matthew's small voice finally chimed in. He gave a long stare to the road ahead then finally turned his attention to Alena… who wore a strange Cheshire Cat grin. "Uh…What?"

"Mattie… there's something I have to tell you." Alena paused in anticipation before continuing. "Ever since I turned twenty, I've been putting money away every week of my adult life, into a savings account. Which I then, of course, turned into high-yield term deposits with interest rates close to 1.3%"

"What are you talking about?" Matthew's hand rose to silence the rambling girl before she dug deeper into his pit of no understanding. There was no way Matthew could understand her rambling when it was just words, let alone numerical figures.

"I have a stash". Alena paused and watched Matthew's face as everything slowly clicked. Now he understood.

Matthew's mouth went a little dry, so he swallowed then asked,"How much?"

"Enough…" Alena let her voice trail off as Matthew sighed and looked back out the window. Her hand was on his arm, rubbing softly over his sweater.

"My whole life is passing right before my eyes… and we don't even have children yet." Matthew muttered to himself. Turning back to Alena, he spoke up just a bit. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise," Alena practically jumped out of her seat, she was only stopped by the roof of the car. She rubbed the top of her head as she continued, "and with a little help from your awesome credit account, we could probably afford this now!"

There was silence in the air as Matthew and Alena stared at each other. This was a little more than Matthew was ready to hear. With a warm sigh, he flashed a small smile and leaned over, towards his fiancé. He kissed her once, then again on her cheek. "Come to Paris with me."

Days passed and Alena was moving nonchalantly around her and Matthew's comfortable apartment. The TV was on and a commercial was playing for some new credit card. She ignored the chattering about low interest plans to focus instead on what she wanted from inside the fridge. She was about to make a choice when her phone started to buzz in her pocket. She pulled the device out and smiled to herself when she saw the caller ID. It was Matthew.

"Hey there! Saved me from a new credit scam," she pulled a Coke out of the fridge and closed it soon after. Then she made her way back to the couch so that she could sit and talk with her traveling fiancée.

"Hi," there was a soft whisper on the other end of the phone, so Alena pushed it closer to her cheek, "What are you up to?"

"Just a bunch of conferences… lots of students with lots of questions." She pulled both of her legs up onto the couch and settled back into it. "What about you? How is Paris?"

"It's beautiful here Alena." Matthew took a pause, as if he was looking around him before speaking again. "I wish you could be here."

Her lips crept up into a small smile as Matthew spoke. However he wasn't good at continuing conversations himself, so she pushed him along. "Yeah? How was dinner?"

"They used this sauce and this cheese… C'est incroyable!" Alena giggled as Matthew gushed about the food. She loved it when he tried to speak French. "It was a taste I'd never experienced before."

"Yeah, well you enjoy your cheese coated sauce. I heard on the The Colbert Report that they use so much to cover the horse meat." Alena opened up her Coke and took a satisfied swig.

There was a pause on the Paris end of the phone before soft speaking slipped in, "You sound like a creepy cat lady."

There was a sharp gasp and Alena almost dropped her drink. "You jerk!" She mocked, grinning from ear to ear. She laughed and pushed herself farther into the couch cushions. "Fine, I'll just be quiet. Tell me more about your day then, seeing as how you're on the adventure."

A day or two later, Alena was again seated on her couch, only this time she had her head to the floor and her feet were hanging off the back of the seat. She played angry birds on her phone before giving up with an angry sigh. Shutting the stupid game off, she quickly went through her contacts and pressed down on her fiancée's name. Her burning ear was greeted by a dialing tone, then ringing.

"Ah, hello?"

There was Matthew's voice, but it was increasingly hard to hear with some, what was that? Base line? It sounded like rave music. What? What on Earth would Matthew be doing at a rave? Her thoughts were silenced as the quiet whisper that was Matthew's voice rang out again.

"I'm at a club with some guys right now… I can't talk for long." He sounded like he was really straining himself to be heard over that ear drum-shattering base. Wait, did he say he was at a club _with _people? Who could he possibly know in Paris, let alone go to a club with?

"But, darlin', we've gotta talk about that house. I've just got to-"

"I know, I swear I'll talk to you about it tomorrow." She was cut off by his hushed tone. She was never cut off by him. Blinking, Alena froze as he continued. "I gotta go, hun. I love you. Bye."

And just like that, music and fiancée were gone.

"So I talked to a real estate agent and I told him that we were ready to make an offer~" Alena spoke in between an overflowing spoonful of the ice cream pint she was shoving into her mouth. "After I talk with Matt though."

Madeline, Matthew's younger sister had stopped by for a visit. She was currently sitting in the living room, watching her future-sister-to-be walk, eat, and talk all at once. Slowly she shook her head then spoke with the same softness as her brother. It must run in the family or something.

"You two are crazy… I don't think I would ever buy a house so quickly."

Interested in what the young girl had to say, Alena turned and leaned against the counter top beside her, so she could look out at her sister-in-law. "Oh? And why not?"

There was a slight shrug, and the girl looked to the floor. "Isn't it a little soon for you two to be looking at something like that? You're only just getting married in a couple of months. It doesn't seem wise to be investing so much of your time and money into something so serious when there are other things you need to be…"

Alena dug deeper into her ice cream bucket losing all her interest in Madeline's story and thus, ignoring her. No sooner did she swallow another scoop of her frozen treat, did her phone buzz in her pocket.

Pulling her the spoon from her mouth, she raised a hand to silence the still speaking girl and answered her phone. It had been a couple days since she'd spoken with Matthew. What was that about? He was suddenly so hard to reach.

"Hey darling~" She spoke sweetly into the phone, more than pleased that he had finally called her.

Alena waited for an answer but nothing came from the phone. She was about to pull it away from her ear to double check that it was, in fact, still working when Matt's voice came in over the phone. "Alena?"

He sounded unsure, almost surprised that he was even on the phone. That was really freaking weird of him. Still, slightly bemused, Alena scuffed it off and nodded while answering, "Yeah, it's me Matt. Is everything alright? I hadn't heard from you in so lo-"

"No." She was cut off quickly. Then before she could even open her mouth to speak, it happened again. "Yes. Gosh… Something amazing just happened."

She waited before speaking again. Slowly she set her spoon beside the abandoned ice cream pint on the counter. "Well? What is it? What's wrong?"

Again there was silence and Alena started to get antsy. Why was he being so quiet? Why had it taken him so long to call? Was he beaten somewhere? Could he be in the white slave trade? He would. Anyone would take him.

"Alena… I just can't believe it." She held her breath, wishing he'd continue. "I'm just so… so happy!"

Relief washed over her in cooling waves. She placed a hand over her heart and sighed. "Well… you didn't have to scare me like that then!"

"Yeah… I'm just so happy and so… fucked. I fucked up." The relief was silenced with his words. Slowly Alena's hand slipped down her side and she leaned more heavily against the counter behind her. "I fucked up Alena… but it was fate, it was destiny!"

"Destiny? What's destiny?" Alena choked out a little too quickly. Hearing the tone of her voice, Madeline looked up from the couch, mildly concerned. But Alena didn't notice. She couldn't focus on anything other than her Matthew on the other end of the phone.

He sighed contentedly before coughing and continuing. "Destiny? No, she was this beauty… this _goddesse_!"

"Goddesse?" Alena practically shouted into the phone.

"It's French for 'Goddess'," he chimed in before continuing, "and she's French too and Alena… I don't think I've ever loved like this before!"

Gapping like a fish, Alena was beside herself. What? _What?_ She couldn't even think of the words to say, so Matthew kept on talking.

"It's like, I'm the strongest man in the world! I could move mountains, crush rocks with my bare hands! I could stand up to that bastard Ivan when he sits on me during company business meetings!"

"Wha-What?" Alena's voice finally cracked in. She was slowly sinking to the floor as Matthew gushed on. Then, remembering who he was talking to, his tone changed from joy to desperation.

"I'm not coming home."

"Wait, Matthew what are you… Not coming home?" She bit her tongue, trying to process what was going on. But it was as if her words were never spoken. Matthew just continued on, like he was reading lines from a play.

"I'm in love, Alena. Love like a poet, like a musical… Like love." He paused before adding, "I'm sorry Alena."

It felt like her heart was in her throat. Alena hit the cold laminate floor. Her head was spinning. But before all went black she heard something soft from the phone slowly slipping from her ear.

"I'm sorry." Then the phone fell to the ground beside her with a heavy thump. Blinking, Alena glanced to her hands… to the ring on her finger.

"Matthew…?"


End file.
